You talked and we listened:

• You told us you wanted to know more about what’s happening across the world’s Tech & Innovation ecosystems.

• You told us you were time poor (can relate) and wanted the content to be snappy, to the point and relevant and

• You told us that you needed all that within a concise newsletter which takes 5 minutes to read once a week!

That’s why after several failed iterations (in true Startup style) we’re launching our brand new Newsletter…Hyped: Global.

A round up of stories from across the Globe. Delivered into your inbox every Wednesday.

Giving you global knowledge, without having to go anywhere.

Thanks for being here on the journey with us on day one.

If you enjoyed this format, please let us know, even better share this with a friend, or ten!

Dickie Currer - Founder & Author of Hyped: Global

Europe

The top stories from Europe and the UK this week

Autonomous strike drone Startup backed by Spotify Co-Founder Daniel Ek

Defence Startup Helsing has raised €600m in Series D funding led by Spotify Co-founder Daniel Ek’s investment firm Prima Materia.

Only four years old, Helsing has recently pivoted to producing autonomous strike drones and underwater surveillance systems. Though previously only made AI software for the battlefield. 

The Munich-based Startup is now valued at €12 billion (as per the Financial Times), making it one of Europe’s most valuable Startups. The startup is working with governments including Germany, the UK and Estonia.

For more in-depth information on Helsing check out this article from our friends at Sifted.

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia and PM Sir Keir Starmer kick off the 12th London Tech Week 

Last week saw 30,000 attendees from across 125 countries descend on the UK’s capital. With LTW’s opening panel featuring Huang, CEO of the world’s leading AI computing company alongside the British Prime Minister and Baroness Poppy Gustafsson, who was part of the team who founded Darktrace, now a UK Investment minister.

Huang wowed the crowd with talk of Nvidia’s mind-blowing growth, claiming that their AI chips are now 1,000 times more advanced than what they were producing a decade ago.

Starmer spoke about the UK’s AI ambitions, and Huang announced a deepening partnership with Britain’s research ecosystem, reinforcing the urgent need to bolster computer infrastructure to support the country’s innovation agenda.

Our man on the ground at LTW was Jack Hallam, read his verdict on this year’s event

UK & Ukraine TechBridge Demo Day reminded us that conflict doesn’t stop Innovation

Ten of Ukraine’s brightest Startups presented their solutions at LTW’s Startups Stage as part of the UK–Ukraine TechBridge Investment Accelerator which finished this week. 

The initiative backed by 1991 Ventures, the UK government, and Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation and in partnership with the Ukrainian Startup Fund, saw 20 Startups in total spanning Pre-Seed to Series A partake the Accelerator, with the cohort now seeking funding between $500k and $5million to to scale globally. 

Read about the program and it’s 2025 cohort here

Australian & NZ

Everything you need to know about ANZ Tech & Innovation

Glitch Capital launches $50 VC fund for Founders by Founders

Some of Australia’s most successful Entrepreneurs are teaming up for a first of its kind fund “For Founders by Founders”.

Glitch Capital is founded by Payapps co-founder Geoff Tarrant, Aconex co-founder Rob Phillpot, A Cloud Guru co-founder and Cuttable founder Sam Kroonenburg and has some of  country’s biggest companies as LP’s including Employment Hero, Xero, MYOB, Fresho, Leonardo AI, Pet Circle, Cover Genius, Roller, Ofload, Go1, VendorPanel, Zeller, Neara, Who Gives a Crap, Mr Yum, GROW Inc, Upguard, Ignition, Bare and Bellroy.

Glitch has already made its first investment in Edtech Cadmus, a digital assessment platform serving the global higher education market.

Magic Valley hosts first ever Cultivated Meat Tasting in NSW Parliament

MP’s including NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey and Minister for Innovation Anoulack Chanthivong recently had the chance to sample the FoodTech Startup’s cultivated Lamb meatballs and pork dumplings. 

Magic Valley produces real meat grown from animal cells, produced without slaughter. Instead the Startup uses induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to produce real lamb and pork without the use of fetal bovine serum, animal scaffolds, or genetic modification.

We had the privilege of tasting Magic Valley’s cultivated Meat back in January 2024, which makes us cooler than the NSW Parliament and long term supporters of Paul and his team.

Subscribe here for our sister newsletter giving you weekly updates about Australia & Aotearoa New Zealand every Sunday morning.

Africa

The top stories from the African continent this past week

Funding for African Startups has already surpassed USD$1billion this year

The month of May saw African startups cross the $1 billion mark for funds raised since January 2025. 

According to recent reports, this is a staggering 40% jump from the same period last year, bucking the trend of the “Funding Winter” which exists across the rest of the continent. With Investment into Startups trending down since a 2021-2022 high globally.

Egypt attracted the most funding. With the epicentre of the North African Startup ecosystem accounting for $330 million across 16 deals. Making up 31% of all disclosed investment so far.

3 of the top deals reported from across the week in Africa

As the funding toll surpassed USD$1billion here were three Startups that helped tip it over the edge (Tech Safari) 

• South African agri-tech startup Nile raised $11.3 million in a round led by the Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund. The funding will help Nile grow across Southern Africa by expanding its inputs marketplace and launching financing solutions with partner banks.

• Senegalese e-health startup KERA raised $10 million from the International Finance Corporation. The funding will help improve its software platform, making healthcare more affordable and efficient through faster payments and AI-driven tools.

• South Africa’s Zero Carbon Charge raised $5.6 million from the Development Bank of Southern Africa. The funding will support the rollout of its solar-powered ultra-fast charging stations every 150 km along national roads, helping reduce range anxiety and reliance on Eskom.

Sierra Leone Builds Africa’s First Solar-Powered 5G Network

The West African nation, with a population of roughly 8.5 million, has a broadband penetration of just 21%.

Local telecom operator Zoodlabs in partnership with African renewable energy firm CrossBoundary Energy is looking to change this, by rolling out the country’s first 5G network with sustainability front of mind. 

The plan is to power the towers using renewable energy: solar panels, battery systems, and minimal reliance on backup generators rather than fuel-heavy infrastructure. 

Want to hear more about African Tech? We highly recommend our good friend Caleb Maru’s Tech Safari newsletter, you can subscribe here 

Asia

India, China, South East Asia and everything in between

Uber, Ola and other “Cab Aggregators” banned from the Indian state of Goa 

The state on India’s western coastline, known for its Arabian Sea adjacent beaches and distinct culture (it was a Portuguese colony prior to 1961), is taking a stand against global ride-sharing giants.

Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant has reportedly assured that cab aggregators like OlaOla and Uber will not be permitted in the state. 

This follows similar recent protests in the country including: 

• The auto and cab drivers union of Chennai, Urimaikural Ottunar Thozhirsangam which  announced an indefinite boycott of Ola and Uber over high commissions charged on daily rides, in February.

• A Karnataka High Court April ruling which gave six-weeks to bike taxi service providers like Ola, Uber and Rapido to halt their services. Following which, Karnataka transport minister Ramalinga Reddy asked department officials to enforce the HC order to suspend bike taxi operations in the state.

US firm plans to exit China leaving a few dozen China-based Startups shares on the table

US venture-capital firm Eight Roads, plans to exit its Chinese technology holdings according to the South China Morning post in doing so it is looking to divestment from roughly 40 Chinese Tech companies it currently has stakes in.

The move, initially reported by Bloomberg on Tuesday, comes as geopolitical tensions and a sluggish Chinese economy prompt some global investors to retreat. Domestic and government-backed funds and financing products would increasingly drive start-up funding in the world’s second-largest economy, analysts said.

The firm has invested around US$1.1 billion in about 130 Chinese companies, according to its website. Alibaba owns the Post. Venture-capital financing in China more than halved to US$6 billion in the first quarter of this year from a year earlier amid a regional decline, according to a KPMG report.

5 Asian Startup Ecosystems named in the top 10 in Startup Genome’s Ecosystem Ranking 2025

Tel Aviv, Israel (4th), Beijing, China (6th), Seoul, South Korea (8th), Singapore (9th) and Shanghai, China (10th) were all featured in the top 10 Startup ecosystems for 2025 according to the world-leading innovation ecosystem development organisation.

The report created annually ranks cities based on a number of factors and statistics, leading to its index. With 5 cities, Asia is the most featured continent in the top 10 (with the US second with 4 and the UK with 1 rounding up the 10 showing the growing strength of the region.

With Tokyo, Bangalore and Shenzhen also featuring in places 11-20. Read Startup Genome’s full report here.

The Americas 

The biggest news out of the US plus the rest of North and South America

Uruguay’s Government launches new innovation program

The South American nation which is currently ranked 62nd out of 133 in the Global Innovation Index (GII) is looking to boost investment and improve development in the country. 

The new program called Uruguay Innovates (U+I) announced on May 21 by President Yamandú Orsi seeks to improve research, attract investment, and promote entrepreneurship in the country which has dropped 10 places in Innovation outputs since 2020.

The country’s National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII) had earlier launched Uruguay Innovation Hub, meant to boost the country’s startup ecosystem. University-linked accelerator programs also exist in the country, such as Ingenio from the Laboratorio Tecnológico del Uruguay (LATU) and Emprendedores from the Universidad Católica de Uruguay. 

The US Navy wants to collaborate with most Startups

The Navy’s chief technology officer, Justin Fanelli, says he has spent the last two and a half years cutting through the red tape and shrinking the protracted procurement cycles that once made working with the military a nightmare for startups. 

Telling TechCrunch in a recent episode of StrictlyVC Download that “we’re more open for business and partnerships than we’ve ever been before.”

Fanelli says his team has documented dozens of success stories altogether, including a venture-backed startup that used robotic process automation to zip through a two-year invoice backlog in just a couple of weeks. Another example involved rolling out network improvements to an aircraft carrier that saved 5,000 sailor hours in the first month alone.

For more stories like this: 

• Check out our parent website Hype Man Media

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Until next week, travel safe!

Dickie